Haiyan Gao (Chinese: 高海燕) is a Chinese-American nuclear physicist whose research concerns the structure of nucleons, quantum chromodynamics, and low-energy fundamental symmetries and symmetry violations, and has included accurate measurements of the size of protons. She is the Henry W. Newson Distinguished Professor of Physics at Duke University, and associate laboratory director for nuclear and particle physics at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Beyond her research in physics, she is also known as having a "keen interest in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the sciences".